I have the stereotypical hillbilly mouth, rotten teeth, broke off and only twelve left. I've always had problems and took care of them but, according to the late Dr Cook, I have very porous enamel; for many years I shelled out thousands of dollars in fillings, root canals and crowns but they rotted from within. Beginning in the nineties, I just started having them pulled. Today I have three broken off at the gums one of which was covered over with gum and absorbed into the jawbone, there is not one remaining unscathed. Last week, I went to the Urgent Care, where my wife works with an abscess, I got penicillin which didn't quite work so I was back today and got a stronger antibiotic. My dental insurance goes into effect in January when I'm going to get them pulled and replaced with dentures without my diastema. A few will require oral surgery. 
  Attention: my prayer request, finally. Please pray I don't get another abscess before January. I've suffered long enough and want it over with. Thanks in advance.
May the LORD bring you all blessings in abundance according to His riches. Shalom, bro's and sis's. Keep on, keeping on. Thank you for enriching my woeful existence.....ok woeful is a bit much...let's try this thanks for enriching my joyous existence, yeah that's more like it.

I'm with you, Iain. Mine aren't quite so bad, but I'm praying my current situation can hold out until the new proposed rule for veterans goes into effect and the VA finally cover dental care for folks like me. And I'm also far richer with all of you than I would be otherwise.

Any time my gums/teeth start bothering me, I use the old fashioned clove oil.  The chemistry of that contains many ingredients in mouthwashes and is in the stuff dentists use to numb you before the novacaine shots.  The primary ingredient is eugenol which is an anesthetic.  BUT, the most powerful benefit is its anti-bacterial/microbial properties.

Get some and rub it all over your gums every day.  It really does work for pain and preventing infections.  Believe it or not!  

Prayers heading up and on to you!

(11-05-2018, 05:41 AM)Ed Hurst Wrote: I'm with you, Iain. Mine aren't quite so bad, but I'm praying my current situation can hold out until the new proposed rule for veterans goes into effect and the VA finally cover dental care for folks like me. And I'm also far richer with all of you than I would be otherwise.

They ought to have done that a long time ago, bro.  "ago, bro" that wuz lame but, I cain't resist a pun.

Of course we will pray.

I had wisdom teeth, all 4, pulled maybe 15 years ago. The surgery was extensive. Recovery was painful for a few days, then just flat out weird and uncomfortable for a week or so: had to get used to a different "mouth feel," bad breath all the time from getting food stuck in new places. Bleh.

So, that's my roundabout way of sympathizing.

Doc Campbell pulls teeth with cable end pliers for free, byoa. That's "bring your own anesthetic" . He ain't no Dr or Dentist, his initials just happen to be d.o.c. The procedure is simple and true, I know people who have done this, remember this is Appachia. First get good and drunk then run, headlong, into an obstacle, while you are dazed your friends hold you down while the "dentist" goes to work with the cable end pliers, grab tooth twist hard left, then right and out. It is agony followed by painful relief.

I've had so much dental work, including lotsa root canals, that I'm rather resistant to the standard anesthesia. On the other hand, I'm also not jumpy about big syringes going into my mouth and I can handle an awful lot of pain before I start to react much. One dentist in the military said it was the funniest thing to him that I said, "ow" once without jumping a bit. I think I can wait awhile without trying Doc Campbell's method.

Radix Fidem: Teeth and Religion

Religion with teeth in it?

(11-06-2018, 08:07 PM)Ed Hurst Wrote: I've had so much dental work, including lotsa root canals, that I'm rather resistant to the standard anesthesia. On the other hand, I'm also not jumpy about big syringes going into my mouth and I can handle an awful lot of pain before I start to react much. One dentist in the military said it was the funniest thing to him that I said, "ow" once without jumping a bit. I think I can wait awhile without trying Doc Campbell's method.

Pop would never take any kind of anesthesia. The dentist would go slow and easy. Daddy was one tough son of a gun to be a gentle soul, today is the third anniversary of his passing. It gets more emotional as it gets farther out. I remember the good and think less of the pain and suffering he endured to the end.
 It was his time and God's time to reveal just how much He used this "black sheep" .